Salesforce launch public cloud- based Hyperforce in India

Cloud-based software provider Salesforce has rolled out its 'Hyperforce' architecture in India - a global first - which will allow organisations to run Salesforce solutions on public cloud in a secure manner.

Adoption of this new architecture will also allow Salesforce to tap into sectors like banking and finance, telecom, and the public sector in India that have strict data compliance requirements.

Speaking to PTI, Salesforce President and COO Bret Taylor said customers wanted Salesforce to be available through data centres that are present in regions where they operate in order to meet the local laws and compliances around data residency.

"One of the broader global trends that has impacted India and also the world, there's really proliferation of data privacy laws, of compliance requirements around data residency. And this platform (Hyperforce) will enable our customers to respond to this (requirement) whether they operate just within India, whether they're a multinational with customers in multiple countries," he added.

Salesforce had launched the new 'Hyperforce' architecture to help customers carry out workloads on public cloud. Previously, the majority of Salesforce's services were delivered from infrastructure designed and operated by Salesforce.

Simply put, with Hyperforce, customers will now be able to use Salesforce's customer relationship management tools and process related data via cloud infrastructure of companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google without worrying about security of data.

This will reduce implementation time, while leveraging the elasticity of the public cloud. Taylor noted that India is the first country where Hyperforce has been deployed, and that it will be rolled out to more countries in the coming months.

He said Salesforce has already tied up with one such global cloud service provider for the India market but declined to disclose additional details.

"There are very strict data privacy and data residency laws and regulations, and that was preventing us from actually approaching the regulated sectors, say banks and insurance, and telcos from actually working with us in a much closer manner.

"We also couldn't approach the public sector or the government...Hyperforce enables compliance, while making it affordable for the customer as well," Salesforce India CEO and Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said.

She added that Salesforce couldn't be part of many of the government's projects around transformation at grassroots level without having a data centre within the country.

"So this development will have a big impact on the business we can do and shifts the goalposts as to what we can target and what we can expect to do," she said.

Bhattaycharya said over 30 customers have already been transitioned to the new architecture and other customers will be moved in the coming months.

"It is not mandatory for all customers to migrate, and customers will be allowed to migrate at their own pace as capacity becomes available. We have a growing number of customers that are live on Hyperforce, and are ramping capacity in 2021," she added.